A number of people have expected to find information on my site about my activism in support of the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia in the Northern Territory of Australia.. Until now I’ve avoided writing about it. My involvement was intense and the outcome painful so I won’t be saying too much about it even now. Just a quick summary of what happened, and some references to where you can read a bit more if you want to. Some of you may have read the story on my site called ‘Giver of Alms’ and know of my brief role back in the 60’s as an activist in support of a better life for single mothers. After that, I spent the best part of 25 years concentrating on earning a living, and being a mother, daughter, and wife. That is, until 1995 when the activist in me was stirred again. How it started It all started on the 2nd February 1995 when Mr Marshall Perron, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, was reported as intending to put forward a private members bill to legalise Voluntary Euthanasia. It seemed the most wonderful thing to me – I’d always believed that terminally ill and suffering people (who wanted it) deserved a more merciful end but never dreamed anyone would consider making it legal. I gave it some careful thought for a couple of days then, with my husband's support, decided to write a letter to the editor of the NT news asking for other people to contact me. The original idea was to present an unbiased view and put together a petition to see how much support there was in the community for Marshall’s legislation. I had no idea whether my feelings of support were shared by many or few! Subsequently, in mid February a group of about 14 people met at the local Tavern, and after talking around the issues for a while, we realized that all of us were supporters. We decided to declare ourselves as a community support group, and circulate a petition for supporters of VE to sign. The Campaign We called ourselves ‘Operation TIAP’ – (Terminally Ill Act Petition) but the activities were much more extensive. We made a submission to the subsequent Committee hearings (insert internet link), circulated the petition, provided information leaflets to the public in shopping centers, used talk-back radio and letters to the editor, placed paid advertisements in the newspaper, took part in a public debate, and organized a rally outside parliament house. I also kept in touch with interstate and international support organizations using the internet. A progress report headed ‘Delivering Death Down Under’ (the editors choice of headline, not mine !) published in the magazine of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland (then VESS) is an example. Given the relative infancy of internet usage, this was probably one of the first times that international communication supported a community campaign of global interest. We also had close contact with some of the terminally ill people who looked forward anxiously to the availability of the legislation, (including Marta Alfonso-Bowes and later Max Bell), supporting doctors and specialists, and various media identities who covered the progress of the campaign. For the most part I maintained a distance between Operation TIAP and the Chief Minister Marshall Perron.. It was important to me that the group be viewed as the spontaneous community based support group which it was, and not give anyone cause to suggest that we were puppets of the legislation’s initiator. I was initially working full time and it quickly became apparent that a lot of work and effort would have to go into Operation TIAP, so I took accumulated leave and long service leave for a period of approx three months over the most intensive March/May '95 timeframe. (at a cost of some $15,000 in loss of payout when I later left the NT !) A dirty fight The campaign was bitterly fought. Church, Medical and Right to Life interests spent large sums of money on advertisements which criticized the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill (abbreviated to ROTTI), Catholic schoolchildren, and Catholic church congregations were reportedly pressured to sign opposing petitions, and it seemed that certain people were doing their best to stir up fear and resentment in the Aboriginal communities with suggestions that the government wanted this law so they could 'do away with' the Aboriginal population. While I've no reason to dispute the fear existed, I also knew there was another side to the story. I'd spoken with some Aboriginal contacts, including one particularly good source with links into a number of communities. He told me that some of the Aboriginal people understood the argument that it (VE) was happening now in a covert way - perhaps without the patient even knowing - and preferred to have a law so it could be controlled. This was a reasoning we'd been putting forward but had no feedback to that time that the message was reaching out to the communities. It was - at least to some. Prior to the scheduled vote in Parliament, I wrote a half page 'letter' for the Northern Territory News, spelling out what I believed the impact might be if the legislation wasn't passed by the Parliament. In the letter I mentioned my information about the opposing Aboriginal viewpoint and was strongly criticised during the parliamentary debate by an (opposition party) member of the Assembly who was strongly opposed to Voluntary Euthanasia. (insert link) - the member, under parliamentary privilege, suggested I was lying, and regrettably I could never reinforce my statement by quoting my source. At a later time, another of my letters to the NT News was published, which, if I recall correctly, contained an inference that the head of the AMA in Darwin was using the AMA name to help fight his cause of personal religious based opposition. He threatened to sue me unless I publicly apologised. I couldn't afford the emotional or financial cost of a court case, so I published an apology - at the same time, the well known Doctor supporting VE published a side-by-side advertisement which virtually said the same things I was apologising for! Great fun. It generated a lot of community support for our side, and strong criticism of the VE opponent. (insert link to adverts) We were later approached by legal people, including a QC, who said "why didn't you tell us what was going on? You had a good case against him and we would have helped you" - Well It was good to know, but I never did like other people fighting my battles for me. And with hindsight, the personal cost of a few hundred dollars for the apology advert was the best thing I could have done for generating more community support. Behind the scenes, I faced yet another personal attack in the workplace. While most email communication's took place from my private facilities at home, I occasionally used my office PC to send brief notes to an international group of interested persons, especially when it was something directly related to the NT's progress such as when the Library made the committee documents available on the internet. A right-to-life supporter who was 'lurking' on the list apparently recognised the Government email address and complained to the CEO and Minister about my mis-use of facilities. Given that the Minister was also an opponent of VE didn't help.. The Irony of Personal Illness Shortly after forming Operation TIAP a mammogram revealed some problems which necessitated removal of some tssue from the right breast. Follow-ups revealed no further problems but it was a timely reminder to me that my involvement wasn't necessarily as impersonal as I'd thought. Terminal illnesses could strike any one of us, any day. I really don't know to this day how I'd cope with it if it happened or if I'd want an assisted death - but I knew then and I know now that I want to have the choice available. (Finally got this far - Jan 02 - a lot more to come later) |
| Legalising Voluntary Euthanasia |
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| I haven't added anything to this page for ages but promise I will work on it again soon. The following account hasn't yet reached the period in '97 when the Northern Territory legislation was made unusable by passage of the 'Andrews Bill' in the Federal Parliament. However As the tenth anniversary of that infamous act is fast approaching, as is a Federal Election, it's timely to remind people of the names of those Federal politicians who denied people the choice of a humane death under the NT Rights of The Terminally Ill Act. Check this link to a letter which I sent out after the passage of the Andrews Bill in 1997 - It contains the names of all the politicians in the House of Reps and Senate who voted for the Bill. Many of them are now in ministerial and other influential key positions in Government. Make sure the country is once again reminded of their failure to represent their electorates by again forwarding the letter to as many people as you can before the next Federal election. Here is the link. Go check it out now - click on the underlined red words RIP DEMOCRACY Who Not to Vote For |